Sales Tip of the Day: Rationality & Decision-Making

By Scott Sambucci | November 23, 2012

This Quora question – “In terms of sales, what are the three most important things to know about psychology?” – led to some heavy research on economics and organizational behavior and more importantly, how they relate to sales.

After reading about Herbert Simon’s work on bounded rationality – the concept that organizations do not make optimal decisions, but rather make decision that are satisfactory or “good enough” – I found this wonderful Slideshare presentation by Aiden Smith and Richard Veryard – “Decision-Making and Rationality.”

Here are three (3) essential concepts to consider when selling to the enterprise.

1. Organizations are fragmented, therefore decisions are made with incomplete information.

As a salesperson, you must develop a clear framework of how the organization is structured and how the decision process with develop and be implemented.

2. Individual motivations are opaque and the value that each player places on the decision varies because of their personal beliefs and motives.

As a salesperson, you must identify these individual motivations and engage each individual independently to understand how that individual will decide.

3. Managers can always find a reason to either delay a decision or make haste.

As a salesperson, it is your responsibility to identify the balance between delay and haste so that you can provide all information possible about your product while still motivating the organization to take action.